Environmental Protection Agency
The Pump Handle
Category archives for Environmental Protection Agency
Posted by A former Department of Labor career employee who is expert in administrative law offers three simple steps for the Obama Administration to revitalize the federal rulemaking system. Pete Galvin’s open letter to President-elect Obama provides thoughtful insight and recommendations that, if implemented, would go a long way to get our public health agencies (OSHA, MSHA, EPA) back…
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Here’s some public health man-bites-dog news. George Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did something right:
A report released last week by staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on EPA’s handling of the massive asbestos contamination in the mining town of Libby, Montana is laden with words including “failure,” “misled,” “interference,” and “delay.” Refering to ”EPA’s Failure to Declare a Public Health Emergency in Libby, Montana,” Senator Baucus…
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Andrew Schneider reports on another lawsuit from a consumer who says his lungs have been damaged by years of microwave popcorn consumption. The most famous microwave-popcorn consumer, Wayne Watson of Denver, filed suit earlier this year. Watson drew national attention after he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease previously found only…
The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin reports that a senior EPA official has told managers that they shouldn’t answer questions from reporters, congressional investigators, or the agency’s inspector general – instead, they should direct them to a press officer. (The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has more details.) Discouraging EPA employees from speaking with members of…
In recent months, we’ve learned about the Department of Defense hampering EPA’s chemical risk assessments and slowing the study of health effects from the TCE contaminating Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Now, the Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton reports that DoD is refusing comply with EPA orders to clean up military bases where chemical contamination poses “imminent…
An attorney representing a large group of PFOA-exposed individuals sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and ATSDR Director Howard Frumkin, urging them not to delay any further the release of hazard information and risk assessments on the contaminant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, a.k.a. C8). Mr. Bilott was writing on behalf of residents who live near DuPont’s Washington…
Companies have evidently realized that marketing anti-bacterial products to U.S. consumers is a good way to make money, and are pushing a wide array of products that claim to have bacteria-fighting properties. (I’ve seen socks, computer products, toys … and even a handy hook you can use to avoid touching a potentially germ-ridden door handle.) This might…
The Chicago Tribune has just reported that Mary Gade, the Bush administration’s top environmental regulator in the Midwest, has been forced to quit her job after months of efforts to get Dow Chemicals to clean up dioxin contamination around its Michigan headquarters. The Tribune’s Michael Hawthorne explains:
On the heels of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ report on political interference with EPA scientists, the Government Accountability Office reports that the White House Office of Management and Budget is taking a major and non-transparent role in EPA toxic chemical assessments. At issue is the agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which contains EPA’s scientific position…